NC rejects PM's call to join govt

REPUBLICA

KATHMANDU, Feb 10: Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal has called upon Nepali Congress (NC) and other political parties to join his government and transform it into a national consensus coalition.

Khanal said he would show maximum flexibility to accommodate NC and other political parties in his cabinet. He also clarified that he is not for any type of polarization.


“At this juncture, there is no possibility of forming a separate “left” or “democratic” alliance and there is no prospect of polarization between these two forces,” Khanal said on Thursday while addressing parliament for the first time after being elected as the prime minister. He said any attempt to polarize politics into left or democratic alliance would lead the country to a catastrophe.

He said the major political achievements attained so far had become possible only after the two forces joined hands together. “The glorious history of cooperation between left and democratic forces is still relevant and it needs to be given continuity,” he said.

Khanal at the same time also emphasized the need for promoting self-reliant economy in the country. He was of the view that the economic dependency breeds grounds for political dependency.

The prime minister also committed that the government would prepare a constitutional basis needed to accomplish the major tasks of peace and constitution building within a few days.

Addressing the House meeting, main opposition leader Ram Chandra Paudel of Nepali Congress (NC) urged the prime minister to show firm commitment to the basic democratic principles while drafting the statute. He said the government and the major political parties should not deviate from the “central theme” of the People´s Movement-2006. “It was to institutionalize the basic democratic principles in the country and there is no point in deviating from it on any pretext,” he said.

Paudel said the NC would not hesitate to support the government if it commits to accomplish the remaining tasks of the peace process in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Accord and the Interim Constitution.

Parties switch ruling, opposition benches

Though the picture about the coalition partners to join the new government is still not clear, some parties changed their seating arrangement in parliament on Thursday.

The Maoist leaders, who were in the opposition bench in the previous government sat on the ruling bench on Thursday, while the NC members, who were in the ruling coalition earlier, shifted to the opposite column.

The Madhesi People´s Rights Forum (MPRF), which was earlier in the opposition, shifted to the ruling bench. Similarly the MPRF-Democratic and Tarai-Madhes Democratic Party sat on the opposition bench. Both the parties were earlier in the ruling coalition.